8/12/2023 0 Comments Frodo baggins books![]() There is no food or water to be had, the paths are ever-shifting, and there are strange apparitions in the water. It’s the safest road for the hobbits to take, but it has its dangers, too. The graves left behind were slowly swallowed up by the expanding marshes. Long ago, a great battle was fought here between Elves, Men, and the forces of Sauron. ![]() It’s another lifeless, unhappy land with a dark history. With the barren, rocky passages of the Emyn Muil behind them, Gollum leads Frodo and Sam into the Dead Marshes, a wide swath of land in the lowlands below the mountains surrounding Mordor. He’s seeing a new, unpleasant side of Frodo and it shocks him.Īnd it’s only going to get worse. Now that Gollum’s there to disrupt their friendly dynamic, Sam’s getting a glimpse of what’s going on under the surface. They haven’t fought with each other, and Sam’s relentlessly cheerful nature has kept Frodo’s spirits up. Until now, they’ve been traveling with friends or with each other. He’s Frodo’s servant and doesn’t want to interfere with his master’s business, but too, he’s finally seeing the Ring’s effects on Frodo. Frodo wants to get on with the Quest, and Gollum is a creature he must come to terms with in order to complete it. It’s a fateful moment, but none of them realizes it. Gollum, desperate to be near his Precious again, promises to serve them. Would you commit your promise to that, Sméagol ? But it will hold you. ‘Think! One ring to rule them all and in the Darkness bind them. Frodo’s response to this is severe: “… Sam was startled by his harsh words. For now that I see him, I do pity him.'” It’s easy to judge people from far away, but once you’ve seen them with your own eyes and have had a chance to understand their situation, black and white judgments are not so easy.įrodo extracts a promise from Gollum: he will serve Frodo and not harm him, but will only do so if he can swear on the Precious- the Ring. And yet, as you see, I will not touch the creature. Trying to understand Gollum is the best thing Frodo can do for him. Now that Frodo has had a chance to calm down and look at Gollum, he remembers Gandalf’s words about mercy, and realizes now what the wizard meant, that as twisted at ruined as Gollum is, he is pathetic and pitiable. Fortunately for everyone, Gollum releases Sam. The Ring grants power according to its bearer’s station, and in the heat of the moment with a sword in his hand and the Ring in his possession, Frodo has a lot of power over Gollum. ![]() Perhaps it’s an empty threat made to get Sam out of danger, but I think he meant it. Frodo, the mild-mannered, middle-class hobbit who wanted nothing more than to stay at home in his beloved house and let the world go by is now seriously threatening to cut someone’s throat. Let go, or you’ll feel it this time! I’ll cut your throat.'” You have seen it before once upon a time. Both of them were aware of his presence and were ready for it, but Gollum nearly chokes the life out of Sam until Frodo draws his sword and threatens Gollum. Our first full view of Gollum comes when he leaps on the hobbits in the dark. But this doesn’t mean Frodo is entirely merciful. Now that Frodo has finally seen Gollum for himself and knows what the Ring has done to both of them, he understands. Gandalf counseled pity and told Frodo that, if he saw Gollum, he wouldn’t say such harsh things. Months ago, in the comfort of Bag End, with no idea of what the Ring really was, Frodo said he wished Bilbo had killed Gollum. But hundreds of years of bearing the Ring have utterly broken him, turning him against everything and everyone, shriveling him into a pathetic wretch whose only desire is to get the Ring back. Though Sméagol was a mean-spirited person when he found the Ring, he wasn’t wholly evil. Gollum’s presence underscores this corruption to both us and to Frodo. Gandalf can lecture all day about the Ring’s corruptive influence, but until we actually see what it does to a fundamentally good person like Frodo, we’re not going to fully understand it. Here is where we start to truly see the effect the Ring is having on Frodo’s psyche, especially now that Gollum is in the picture. What we get in Book Four is not an action story, but a profoundly psychological one.
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